In Business Blast Podcast #132, host Tyler Wagner interviews Rachel LaMantia, founder of Masterpiece Bookkeeping. Rachel opens with a musician’s pit‑orchestra metaphor, illustrating how individual expertise contributes to a larger, magical whole. She stresses the importance of diligent bookkeeping for entrepreneurs, warning against procrastination and urging business owners to either master their numbers or hire a qualified professional to avoid cash‑flow and receivable issues. Rachel’s core business advice is to "be a quitter"—to delegate non‑core tasks and surround oneself with a skilled team, allowing focus on one’s strengths. When reflecting on personal growth, she advises her younger self to pursue self‑development earlier, emphasizing health, relationships, mindset, and reading. She links happiness to knowing one’s purpose, values, and faith as a Christian. Rachel recommends Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, highlighting the win‑win habit as essential for relationships. Her favorite quote is Jim Rohn’s, “Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better.” The episode concludes with her contact information: masterpiecebookkeeping.com and her LinkedIn profile.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
¡Hola!
¿Cómo estás?
All right, everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. Today I have Rachel Lamantia with us. She's the founder and owner of Masterpiece Bookkeeping. So welcome to the show, Rachel.
Thanks, Tyler. I'm excited to be here.
Of course. Thanks for joining us. We'll dive in. The first question I have for you, Rachel, is what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Well, I'm a musician, and actually the name of my business, Masterpiece Bookkeeping, is a nod to my musical background. And one of my favorite things to do as a musician is to play in pit orchestras. And so when you're in a pit orchestra, you have your own part. There's usually only one person per part. And so you need to know your part well. You need to know it inside and out, and you can really shine in doing your own part. But your part alone won't mean much to the audience or to many people. It takes dozens of people, the other musicians, the actors and actresses, the people directing and putting it together, the support people, that when you put all of those individual roles together, that's where the magic really happens. And you can be part of something that's bigger than the sum of its parts. And I love that. And I think it's also a good metaphor for, for life in general, that we all have our own unique talents and abilities and can rock them and do great at them. Um, but there's a lot of other moving pieces in the world. And when you find those synergies, you can really do some magical stuff.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Pay attention to your books. If you're an entrepreneur or small business owner, a lot of times people don't want to think about it. They put it off. Don't wait till the end of the year when you need to do it to do your taxes. There's lots of valuable information in your numbers. I've helped people avoid cash flow problems and fix receivables problems. And it's great information about your business to make good decisions going forward. About your business. So don't ignore it. And if you don't know how to do it yourself, I'd really encourage you to find somebody who knows what they're doing because it's kind of a specialized thing. And if they're not right, you're not going to get the value from it that you should.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, not necessarily industry-specific?
Be a quitter. Let me explain that one a little bit. When you, when you start a business, you have to do all of the things related to running a business, but nobody is good at all of them. And so to build a business effectively, I really believe in surrounding yourself with an awesome team of other people who are really good at what they do so that you can stop doing those and more and more as you build a business, focus on what you're really great at by having an awesome team around you.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would say to grow as a person. There's so much out there about that you can learn about so many different things about your health, about relationships, about business, about how you show up in the world and your mindset. And I would have opened myself up to that world sooner and probably also handed myself a book.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Well, Tyler, I think something that goes a long way is knowing who you are, knowing your purpose and values, and living according to them. So I'm a Christian, and so my faith is a huge part of who I am. And for me, knowing who I am as a child of God and what he's done for me is really all I need in this world.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Yeah, this is tough because I'm a reader and there's so many great books out there. But one of my favorite business books is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. And the living according to your purpose and values is in there. But the one thing I want to highlight today from that book is the habit of think win-win. And this is so valuable in dealing in your relationships with everybody on this planet, is that you don't always have to go for the compromise, or one person gives in and then the next person gives in the next time. The really effective way to do it is in every situation to find the solution that's a win for everyone involved. And if you're committed to finding that, um, you'll find so many creative solutions and Everybody wins, which is awesome.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
Different quotes speak to me at different times in my life, I think. But the one I want to share with you today is from Jim Rohn. He said, "Don't wish it was easier, wish you were better." Yes, I love that quote.
Thank you so much for coming on, Rachel. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?
Absolutely. You can find me on my website. It's masterpiecebookkeeping.com. And if you want to get in contact with me, there's a contact form there. And I am also on LinkedIn under Rachel Lamantia. So feel free to reach out and I'd love to connect with you.
Awesome. Thanks again for coming on, Rachel.
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